Ontario Has 'Record-Breaking' Level Of Drugs In Water

Contamination of drinking water by pharmaceuticals is a growing concern in Canada.

Health Canada, the nation's public health department, recently funded a study on this issue. It found "record-breaking levels of three pharmaceuticals in river water in southwestern Ontario," CBC News reported.

The drugs included the diabetes drug metformin, the acid reflux drug ranitidine, and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide. "The levels detected have never been found before in North America," the report said.

Several factors contribute to the increase of pharmaceuticals in water. "New technology is making it easier to detect trace amounts of these pharmaceutical chemicals. And people are taking more and more drugs," the report said.

Environmental toxicologist Chris Metcalfe of Trent University in Peterborough noted additional explanations.

"With aging boomers, the amounts of pharmaceuticals which are being consumed are going up between 10 and 15 per cent a year, here in North America," he said, per the report. "So we can view this as a developing problem that will probably get worse, in terms of the amount of pharmaceuticals we can expect being discharged into the environment.

A separate study in Canada, released in October, found birth control pills contaminating ecosystems. "Scientists found that among the fathead minnow population, males started to produce eggs and their behavior changed. The fish couldn't reproduce for almost five years after the addition of the estrogen to the lake," CBC News reported in a separate piece.

One researcher called the results "dramatic."

"Idon't think anyone predicted there would be a total recruitment failure for the fathead minnows, that they would stop reproducing entirely," Michael Rennie said, per the report.

As Water Online previously reported, recent research suggests that "exposure to PPCPs in drinking water may subject humans, particularly males, to gender-morphing and other reproductive system alteration."

According to the EPA,"to date, scientists have found no evidence of adverse human health effects from pharmaceuticals and personal care products as pollutants (PPCPs) in the environment."

http://www.wateronline.com/doc/ontario-has-record-breaking-level-of-drugs-in-water-0001